JENIN: Palestinian man Adnan Naghnaghia has been holed up at home for eight days as Zionist entity forces were carrying out raids, battling militants and making arrests in the occupied West Bank. “It’s like a prison,” said the 56-year-old father of five, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, an area targeted in a series of major Zionist entity operations since Aug 28.

Palestinian medics said on Thursday an air strike targeting a car in the occupied West Bank killed five people on Thursday. “Five killed and (one) seriously wounded in a strike (on) a car in Tubas,” the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement, referring to an area that has been a focus of Zionist entity operations for more than a week.

Zionist entity has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and its forces regularly make incursions into Palestinian communities, but the current raids as well as comments by Zionist entity official mark an escalation, residents say.

The ongoing raids in the northern West Bank have killed 36 Palestinians since last week, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Zionist entity forces have also arrested dozens of Palestinians. In the latest violence, the health ministry said on Thursday five people were killed in a strike on a car in the Tubas area south of Jenin, with the military saying it had targeted “armed terrorists”.

The presence of Zionist entity troops, in their longest operation in decades against West Bank militants, has brought life in Jenin to a standstill, said Naghnaghia. “They force you to stay inside the house instead of going out and living a normal life”.

Venturing out has become so perilous that Naghnaghia was speaking to an AFP correspondent by phone even though they were both in the Jenin camp, just 600 meters (yards) apart. In the camp’s narrow alleys, armored vehicles and bulldozers have left behind a trail of destruction amid the battles.

Most residents “already left”, seeking safety elsewhere, said Naghnaghia. Jenin city and the adjacent refugee camp have long been a bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Zionist entity. While Hamas does not have a strong presence in the West Bank, opinion polls suggest its popularity has grown among Palestinians during the Gaza war. Other militant groups like Islamic Jihad are particularly active in the northern West Bank.

Years of repeated raids have made Jenin camp residents “experts” at waiting them out, said Naghnaghia who had stocked up food for days. But now he fears it may not last long enough.

“We plan for two-three days, not one or two weeks,” he said. On Monday Zionist troops searched the family home where about 20 of Naghnaghia’s relatives including children were staying.

A large number of Zionist entity troops stormed the Al-Faraa refugee camp in Tubas governorate, where explosions were heard, eyewitnesses told AFP. “One martyr was shot by the occupation (Zionist entity) forces in Al-Faraa camp,” the Palestinian health ministry said. Driver Iyad Dagharmeh, 34, said there was “intense Zionist entity warplane activity over Tubas city for the first time”. — AFP